Navajos protest Salt River Project and dirty coal energy

TEMPE, Arizona -- Navajos spoke out against dirty coal at the Salt River Project, operator of the Navajo Generating Station, one of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the US, during the Ash Wednesday Mob Protest. It was initiated by the Arizona Interfaith Power and Light Organization.

Marshall Johnson, Navajo
environmental advocate and co-founder of To Nizhoni Ahni (Beautiful
Water Speaks), was invited to speak to a non-Native
audience. He gave a startling backdrop to the social and environmental
injustices stemming from coal mined on his ancestral land- Black Mesa
which feeds the Navajo Generating Station with coal.

Because of Navajo
and Hopi coal, the state of Arizona and Maricopa county reap a $160
billion economy while an egregious disparity exists on Navajo land.

The
majority of the attendees were not aware of the startling statistics and
the inequities before.

Protester Kathy Watson walked up to Johnson
after his presentation and apologized for the harm the land and his
people endure so she and millions of valley residents can enjoy low-cost
electricity and water.

Rev.
Doug Bland, co-executive director of Arizona Interfaith Power and Light
(AZIPL) organized the Ash Wednesday mob protest consisting of several
local ministers including over fifty concerned parishioners in front of
Salt River Project Corporate Office in Tempe, Arizona at noon, February
13, 2013. Protests are also planned for APS and Tucson Electric
headquarters within the next few months.

Today
is the beginning of Lent observed by several western organized
churches. Rev. Bland brought a chunk of coal along with pulverized
coal. Rather than the typical ash for blessing, Rev. Bland used the
powdered coal which he applied to the forehead of several parishioners
after the protest. With the giving of ashes, Christian members of AZIPL
were asked to consider fasting from carbon through March 31, 2013,
Ecumenical Carbon Fast for Lent.

Thirty-two churches belong to AZIPL. The national Interfaith Power and Light organization has over 3,400 members.

An
adaptation from a speech by Chief Seattle in 1854 was read: “Every part
of this earth is sacred. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the
children of the earth. The air is precious; for all of us share the same
breath. This we know, the earth does not belong to us: we belong to the
earth. This we, all things are connected, like the blood which unites
one family. Our God is the God, whose compassion is equal for all. Fore
we did not weave the web of life; we are merely a strand in it. Whatever
we do to the web we do to ourselves.”

“God
of all, sacred one, teach us love, compassion and honor that we may
heal the earth and each other. Amen.” –Adapted from the Ojibway Nation
of Canada.

The Navajo Generating Station, located on the Navajo Nation near Page, Ariz., uses coal from Black Mesa, where Peabody Coal orchestrated the so-called Navajo-Hopi land dispute and relocation of more than 14,000 Navajos. Recently, Arizona Senators Jon Kyl and John McCain, and Interior Sec. Ken Salazar, attempted a scheme to sneak a so-called water rights settlement through the Lame Duck Congress. The scheme was to provide the dirty coal-fired power plant, and Arizona cities downstream which waste water, with water from the Little Colorado River. Navajos had already said 'NO' to the scheme. Salazar's leaked memo was exposed by Censored News. Salazar announced in January that he would leave the Interior.While SRP and Navajo Generating Station provide electricity to the Southwest, while depleting and polluting the water sources, many Navajos live without running water and electricity. Navajos on Black Mesa continue to fight forced relocation and the ongoing destruction and pollution by Peabody Coal and Navajo Generating Station.Corrupt Navajo politicians, and non-Indian attorneys, continue their schemes with Arizona Congressmen and non-Indian attorneys behind closed doors, which keeps the dirty coal-fired power plant operating. --Censored News

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Censored News was created in 2006 in response to censorship by Indian Country Today. Longtime ICT staff writer Brenda Norrell was censored repeatedly, and terminated in 2006. Now in its 11th year, with more than 13 million views, Censored News publishes a collective of Indigenous and other grassroots writers focused on human rights. Censored News is a media whistleblower site. Censored News has no grants, sponsors or advertising. It is totally reader supported. brendanorrell@gmail.com